Nesarian Language
Nesarian Language See also: Nesarian Names Nesarian is an Elvic language spoken in Nesaria, and it used as a lingua franca for the other countries within the Empire (teaching at least basic Nesarian as a second language is mandatory throughout the Empire). Its current form, Modern Nesarian, was fully established in the early 15th century. Nesarian is unique for barely changing at all over time - most modern Nesarian speakers can understand Nesarian texts written nearly 2000 years ago, once they have been translated into latin characters. Until the advent of the printing press, Nesarian was written in an extremely complicated system of runes. The latin alphabet was found to work well with the language and fitted in much better with the printing press, and the latin alphabet eventually supplanted Nesarian Runes - today less than 0.1% of the population of Nesaria is fluent in Nesarian Runes. Nesarian has had Slavic influences over the years, mostly manifesting itself in the character combination "sz". German has also had an influence, with some words being lifted directly from German - for example the word for "tank" in German is "panzer", and in Nesarian it is "pansa". Nesarian grammar is essentially identical to English grammar, making it a popular second language in the Anglophone world. English is also a common second or third language within the Nesarian Empire. Due to the historical influence of the Nesarian Empire, Nesarian is also commonly learned as a second or third language in all of the ex-Empire states as well as Greece and Russia. Nesarian heavily relies on suffixes to change the meaning of words, similar to Hungarian, which can stack to create very long words. It is by no means a rule, but Nesarian words often have alternating vowels and consonants which tends to create many syllables. Nesarian is generally not hard to write, but for the reasons above, pronouncing it and speaking it fluently in conversation is often difficult and awkward for foreigners. Pronunciation Several letters are pronounced differently to how they are normally pronounced in English or other languages that use the latin script. The pronunciation varies slightly based on regional accents, but listed below is the "Standard Capitalian" pronunciation. * The letter "c" is pronounced as a hard "k". * The letter "q" is pronounced as a hard "k". * The letter "i" is pronounced as a long "ee". * The letter "t" is pronounced as a hard "t" regardless of the letters around it. * The letter "g" is pronounced as a hard "g". * The letter "u" is pronounced as a long "oo". * The combination "eo" is pronounced "ayo". * The combination "ae" is pronounced "ai" or "aye". * The combination "ea" is pronounced "aya" or "aea". * The combination "sz" is pronounced "zh" (as in the "s" in "pleasure"). * The combination "ire" is pronounced "ee-ray" at the end of a word and "ee-reh" anywhere else. * The combination "es" is pronounced "ez" if it is at the end of a word, but "es" anywhere else. Suffixes Here is a list of all the suffixes that can modify the meaning of a word in Nesarian. The second suffix will be the version of the suffix that you add if the word ends in a vowel. * "Eo" / "Teo" makes a singular noun into a plural noun. "River" ("Sacalifae") becomes "Rivers" ("Sacalifaeteo"). * "Unus" / "Nus" makes a number into an adjective. "One" ("Asc") becomes "First" ("Ascunus"). * "Us" / "Tus" makes a present tense word into a past tense word. "Stop" ("Paecut") becomes "Stopped" ("Paecutus"). * "Ivitus" / "Tivitus" makes a present tense word into a present participle word. "Stop" ("Paecut") becomes "Stopping" ("Paecutivitus"). Note that if a verb is being turnde into its present participle form, you drop the verb suffix ("Ovos" / "Vos"). * "Ivotis" / "Tivotis" makes a present tense word into a past participle word. "Butter" ("Cracosovos") becomes "Buttered" ("Cracosovosivotis"). * "Oteros" / "Teros" makes a noun into an adjective. "Death" ("Cavac") becomes "Dead" ("Cavacoteros"). * "Ovos" / "Vos" makes a noun into a verb. "Colony" ("Cratae") becomes "Colonise" ("Crataevos"). * "Ovis" / "Vis" makes a noun into an adverb. "Weakness" ("Pixas") becomes "Weakly" ("Pixavis"). * "Ca" makes an adjective into a comparative adjective. This is added onto the "teros" that turns a word into an adjective. "Sweet" ("Camoteros") becomes "Sweeter" ("Camoterosca"). * "Ci" makes an adjective into a superlative adjective. This is added onto the "teros" that turns a word into an adjective. "Sweet" ("Camoteros") becomes "Sweetest" ("Camoterosci"). * "An" makes a place name into a demonym. The "An" becomes "N" if the word already ends in an "a". "Germany" ("Daevutos") becomes "German" ("Daevutosan"). Some words do not follow these rules, for example the word "Holy", which is "Ticae". According to the suffix rules it should be "Ticaeteros" or something similar because it is an adjective, but this word does not follow the suffix rules. Ordering of Suffixes The order that the suffixes should go in is one of the tricker parts of Nesarian, and often confuses foreign speakers. Here is the order that the suffixes go in - skip over any that do not apply. # "Ovos" / "Vos" - Verb # "Ovis" / "Vis" - Adverb # "Oteros" / "Teros" - Adjective # "Ca" - Comparative Adjective # "Ci" - Superlative Adjective # "Ivitus" / "Tivitus" - Present Participle (Adding this to a verb removes the verb suffix) # "Ivota" / "Tivota" - Past Participle # "Us" / "Tus" - Past Tense # "Eo" / "Teo" - Plural # "An" / "N" - Demonym A good example of this is "buttered", as in "it has been buttered" (past participle). # Noun "butter" - Cracos # Turn noun into verb "butter" - "Cracosovos" # Turn verb into past participle - "Cracosovosivotis" Buttered, however, can also be the past tense form of the verb "butter", as in "he buttered the bread". # Noun "butter" - Cracos # Turn noun into verb "butter" - "Cracosovos" # Turn verb into past tense "buttered" - "Cracosovosus" Traditions Idioms * "Yacetripas vi evex" - "Son of light" - This phrase used to be literal, meaning a paragon of virtue, however in about the 15th century its meaning became sarcastic, and it now refers to someone with few redeeming qualities who indulges in degenerate and amoral behaviour. For example, drug dealers could be referred to as "yacetripaseo vi evex", or "sons of light". * "Itaevocus itoc blaszon" - "Born in purple" - Used to describe someone who has been spoilt from birth and who is arrogant and childish as a result. Purple used to be a very rare and extremely expensive dye, only available to the very rich, so someone “born in purple” is someone born to extreme wealth, and such people are typically spoilt by their parents. The equivalent phrase in English would be “born with a silver spoon in his/her mouth”, although the Nesarian phrase “born in purple” is used more specifically to refer to someone who has a bad character as a result of being spoilt, whereas the English phrase just refers to a spoilt rich person. * "Fitasus itoc io vanat" - "Lost in the sauce" - Used to describe something that has been lost as a result of other information being piled on top of it. The phrase originated from the idea that the flavour of a food could be lost by drowning it in sauce, and that the flavour of the sauce overpowers the flavour of the food. A similar English idiom would be “a needle in a haystack”. If something has been “lost in the sauce”, then it has become the needle in the haystack. * "Critovae eo cracosovosivotis" - "Everything is buttered" - Used to describe a situation where everything is running efficiently and smoothly and where there are no problems to slow things down. This comes from the idea that a buttered object becomes smooth and slippery. Proverbs * "Iotun calacut eo camala sascut qae qara calcut eo latire camoterosca" - "This land is honey, but my own land is even sweeter" - Fairly self-explanatory, used to describe a place that you really love but is not as great as home. Common Phrases * "Ceo Marati!" - "Hail Victory!" - A common phrase which fell out of use in the 9th century and was revived in the late 18th century, and especially emphasised during the reign of Emperor Adrion I. It is similar to the German phrase “Sieg Heil!”. Its meaning is not unlike saying “good luck”; a declaration of hope for victory, both for yourself and to the person/people you are saying it to. In the armed forces, this usually refers to military victory (it also used to refer solely to military victory before the rebirth of the phrase in the 18th century), but in other situations, “victory” refers to generally being successful. It is commonly said at the end of speeches and formal meetings, and members of the armed forces say it whenever they salute, apart from in sombre occasions where silence is appropriate, such as funerals or Peace Day. The phrase is rarely said in informal situations. * "Cronteros Yacelononeo" - "Noble Men" - Not to be confused with noblemen, this phrase is used in formal situations - normally speeches - when speaking to large groups of people. Although the literal translation is “noble men”, it can be just as easily used when talking to a mixed gender group, or a group made up entirely of women, because in Nesarian, “men” can just mean “people” depending on the context. The literal translation is “noble men”, but a more understandable translation is “noble ones”. This is said to a large group of people you are speaking respectfully to - not necessarily superiors. If a politician does not refer to his audience as “cronteros yacelononeo” in a speech then this will usually end his career. It implies that he does not treat the audience with respect, and by extension does not treat the people with respect. Slurs Note: This section will display potentially offensive slurs The Nesarian language contains a variety of slurs which are untranslatable, but similar English words exist. The Nesarian language is different to English when it comes to slurs because in English, slurs are often just directed towards groups, whereas in Nesarian, slurs are only directed towards individuals belonging to a group who fulfil most or all of the negative stereotypes of that group. For example, a negative stereotype of black people is that they consume more drugs and commit more crime - only a black person who does drugs and commits crime would be labelled as a "Cisti" in Nesaria, whereas "Nigger" in English can refer just to somebody who is black. Racial/Ethnic Slurs * "Cisti" = "Nigger" = Racial slur against black people * "Rogavud" = "Kike" = Racial/ethnic slur against Jews, or religious slur against those of the Jewish faith * "Ocragos" = Racial slur against Orcs, no English translation * "Yuvatos" = "Gook" = Racial slur against eastern Asians and Osdarthians * "Cinot" = "Chink" = Racial slur against Chinese * "Rossitus" = Ethnic slur against Russians, no English translation * "Oszavocot" = "Turkroach" = Ethnic slur against Turks * "Ariboscot" = "Sand Nigger" = Racial slur against Middle Easterners (but not applied to Christian Middle Easterners e.g. Assyrians and Arameans) * "Pajit" = Ethnic slur against Indians, no English translation * "Paci" = "Paki" = Ethnic slur against Pakistanis Religious Slurs * "Halcrist" = Religious slur against Christians, no English translation * "Papos" = Religious slur against Catholics specifically, no English translation * "Islacacris" = "Muzzie" = Religious slur against Muslims Other Slurs * "Drayacos" = "Faggot" = Slur against homosexuals (both male and female homosexuals are called "drayacos", there is no separate slur for lesbians) * "Simodraya" = "Furfag" = Slur against furries (Note that "simodraya" is essentially the same as "furfag" - "simo" from "simoc", meaning "fur", and "draya" from "drayacos", meaning "faggot") * "Yacatae" = Slur against transgenders, no English translation * "Comocrinos" = Slur against communists, no English translation "Scopian" is not intended to be an ethnic slur, this is simply the Nesarian word for Slavic Macedonians, however the Slavic Macedonians take it as an insult.